Japan

Japan has been notoriously late in joining the "bilaterals bandwagon". Until the latter part of the 1990s, the government hedged most of its bets on multilateral negotiations as a means of opening up foreign markets to Japanese corporate interests. However, Japan is increasingly suffering the loss of market shares that FTAs between other countries produce. Because of NAFTA, for example, Japan felt an acute need for its own treaty with Mexico so that its products benefit from the same tariff levels on the Mexican market as those coming in from the United States.

Until recently, Japan focused its bilateral negotiating agenda on a few countries around the Pacific. Major deals have been signed with Singapore (2002), Malaysia (2004), Mexico (2004), Philippines (2006), Indonesia (2007), Chile (2007), Thailand (2007), ASEAN as a whole (2008) and Vietnam (2008).

In mid-2006, Tokyo announced the start of FTA talks with Brunei and these were wrapped up in 2007. Japan’s deals with both Brunei and Indonesia are unique because they guarantee Tokyo access to oil and gas supplies.

In mid-2006, Japan went so far as proposing an overarching East Asian FTA encompassing Japan, ASEAN, India, China, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. ASEAN, among others, gave this idea a cool response.

In 2007, negotiations with India and Australia began, while somewhere down the pipeline, Colombia, China, Korea, Cambodia and Laos are also on the agenda.

Other countries are further targets creeping into Japan’s bilateral trade agenda: In early 2005, Japan started exploring possible talks with Switzerland, and the actual negotiations started in 2007. In 2006, spurred by concerns about access to energy resources, Japan moved towards kicking off talks for an FTA with Kuwait and other oil and gas-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. There are also growing concerns about trade disadvantages for Japanese firms on a wider international scale, leading to FTA overtures towards Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand and even some wishful talk of a US-Japan deal. In late 2011, Japan showed interest in negotiating an FTA with Burma. In March 2012, there were indications of upcoming FTA talks with Mongolia and Canada.

The deals put forward by Japan are called "Economic Partnership Agreements" (EPAs), as the government holds that the term "free trade agreement" doesn’t capture the broader integration of economic and social policies that these treaties aim to achieve between the partner countries. But these EPAs are similar in coverage to a typical FTA from the US, New Zealand or the EU, if less ambitious on the content.

Domestic opposition to FTAs has crystallized around the announcement that the Japanese government intends to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP.) 2011 and 2012 have seen major demonstrations against the agreement were mounted by Japanese farmers, targeting the undermining of food security which agricultural liberalization under the proposed deal could bring about, especially in relation to rice. Zenroren (National Confederation of Trade Unions) also opposes the deal, with concerns about job losses, the opening up of the economy to US capital, and the erosion of living standards and working conditions. Many Japanese opponents view the TPP as being essentially a bilateral FTA with the US.

The agreement reached Thursday to start negotiations in November for a new regional economic and trade area among ASEAN countries and six partners, including Japan, is a lifeline for the nation, as its trade policy has come to an impasse.

Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said Thursday Japan will map out a new strategy by fall aimed at supporting other Asian countries and promoting trade in the region, with a focus on four key sectors including building infrastructure and economic partnerships.

Achieving full free trade among its members by 2020 remains the stated goal of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) group, but few expect it to materialise due to the non-binding nature of the agreement.

Japan should adopt a two-pronged trade strategy — participate in the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement and further deepen economic ties with the rest of Asia — to achieve economic growth, according to the top economist at the Asian Development Bank Institute.

Japan and Mongolia are expected to agree to launch negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement when their leaders meet Monday, as the two countries mark this year the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.

Japan and Canada are preparing to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement and may possibly reach an initial accord by the end of this month on holding the talks, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Thursday postponed his widely expected announcement that Japan will join the US and other countries in negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, saying he wanted to sleep on the issue for a day before making his final decision.

With farmers like Saito outnumbered by those who fear opening up Japan’s farm market, Prime Minister Noda must face down opposition inside his Democratic Party of Japan if he is to tell US President Barack Obama that Tokyo wants to join the talks when they meet at a Nov. 12-13 Asia-Pacific summit in Hawaii.

With participation in Trans-Pacific Partnership comprehensive trade talks and resumption of an economic partnership agreement with Australia on the horizon, the Japanese government is likely to increase its direct payments to farmers by several hundred billion yen, it has been learned.

The United States and eight other Pacific countries hope to announce the crux of a major trade deal at an Asia-Pacific summit next month, officials said Monday, a step toward an elusive APEC-wide accord.

The Japanese government told ruling party lawmakers Monday that it is unclear whether exceptions will be admitted in abolishing tariffs under the proposed trans-Pacific free trade framework as they weighed whether Japan should join talks for the multilateral pact.

News from the movements

30-Aug-2012Infojustice

The letter warns that the TRIPS-Plus provisions in the trade agreement between EU and Thailand – including border measures, data exclusivity, patent term extensions, and protection for new indications – would block access to generic medicines.

24-Aug-2012India Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (InCACBI)

We, a group of academics, activists and artists in India, came together in 2010 to campaign against yet another apartheid regime by extending support to the international campaign for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel.

22-Aug-2012WSJ

The Japanese prime minister’s office — for months the scene of weekly anti-nuclear protests in Tokyo — got a new group of demonstrators on Tuesday: A group protesting Japan’s proposed participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP.

15-Aug-2012

“We welcome the High Court decision as a vindication of the Government’s right to regulate tobacco as an addictive substance that still kills 15,000 Australians per year,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network, said today.

9-Aug-2012WSJ

The former GM workers chose the grounds next to the US Embassy to stage their hunger strike because of the labor action plan agreed to between Colombia and the US last year under the countries’ free trade agreement — which both governments, and General Motors, have igored.

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